DNF

This book is very tedious. Writing is not engaging, and it reads very flat. It's not bad but few could read the whole thing without losing will to live. By which I mean that this book is NOT to be given to tentative readers of ANY age for fear of driving them away from reading for good.

Too many descriptions. Instead of sketching the author tries to paint. Key word being tries. The overexplanation ruins the premises and is, frankly, off-putting. You know something is wrong if you find yourself wishing for things to actually happen. Few -children and adults both- could make it past the beginning chapters unless they like reading expositions.

It may sound like a splendid adventure in the blurb, but it fails to engage and to excite. Very disappointing.

Would not recommend.
(though it might make a decent adventure on screen) ( )

Kit the brain, M.K. the tinkerer, and Zander the brave must come together to find out why the government is trying to steal a half map. When explorer Alexander West dies, he leaves his mysterious half map to his children. It is up to them to discover its secrets, but quickly! Technology has failed and there are new lands to discover in this jam-packed adventure of three siblings. The Expeditioners must act fast if they want answers to where the map leads, and exactly how their father has died. I have loved reading this book and it can easily be inserted into a history lesson. At the very least, The Expeditioners could be used to introduce a new genre or even to teach map skills. I will be sure to have this book series stocked in my future classroom. ( )

I found the story of Zander, Kit, and MK full of imagination and adventure. Seeing them figure out the puzzles left behind by their father, and imaging the world that Ms. Taylor creates made this a great read. ( )

The Expeditioners is the story of three siblings, Zander, Kit, and M.K. West. Each sibling has a different strength - Zander is brave, Kit is smart and good with maps, and M.K. is great at taking things apart and putting them back together so they work. The West children's mother died when M.K. was a baby, and their father, an Explorer, disappeared recently; the children were informed of his death by the government and have been living on their own ever since. Their adventure begins when Kit is approached by a strange man with a clockwork hand and a strange tattoo in the marketplace; the man gives him a book that contains a code, which Kit cracks to find half a map his father had hidden in the house. The map is of a part of northern Arizona, and Zander wants to head there immediately, but Kit wants to find out more first. They travel to Manhattan, sneak into the Expedition Society, and meet Sukey Neville, who becomes an ally on their journey. They find the second half of the map and escape, closely tailed by government agents and an ex-friend of their father's, and head for Drowned Man's Canyon, where they believe they will find long-lost gold treasure.

This is the first steampunk novel I've read, and I liked it very much. It was also an exciting adventure novel with a journey built in, and eventually the West kids discover a bigger secret than they expected. The Expeditioners reminded me of Gregor the Overlander, but above-ground. ( )

Siblings kit, M.K. And Zander receive a weird message from their dead father. Kit is given a book by the man with the clockwork hand. The message is in this book and leads them to half of a map.
A steam punk story with a lot of adventure. ( )